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National Museum of the American Indian
Sidney S. Wilson and family photographs from Pima Indian Agency
Summary
- Collection ID:
- NMAI.AC.156
- Creators:
-
Wilson, Sidney S.
- Dates:
-
1884-188519151933
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
10 Negatives (photographic)11 Photographic prints
- Repository:
This collection includes negatives and photographic prints shot or collected at the Pima Indian Agency, now the Gila River Reservation, by Sidney S. Wilson and family members Florence Wilson and Roswell G. Wheeler. Sidney Wilson's sister Florence worked as a teacher at the Agency school during the winter of 1884-1885 while their uncle Roswell Wheeler served as the Indian Agent.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
Series 1: Sidney S. Wilson, 1933, includes 10 negatives made by Sidney S. Wilson on his 1933 trip to the Gila River Reservation in Sacaton, Arizona. Wilson met with several of his sister Florence's former Akimel O'odham (Pima) students, including Hugh Patton and Calvin Emerson, and took photographs with them in front of old agency buildings. The photographs with Sidney in the image were likely shot by his wife Anna. Series 2: Roswell G. Wheeler, 1915, includes three photographic prints shot by Ros Wheeler on Easter in 1915. Wheeler had been Indian Inspector of the Pima Indian Agency in the 1880s and returned for a visit in 1915. These include images of Ned Wood and his family and Harvey White and his son. Wood and White were also former students of Florence Wilson in 1884-1885. Series 3: Unknown Photographer, circa 1884, includes eight photographic prints by unknown photographer(s) made around 1884. These images depict school age children, women carrying burden baskets and men on horseback.
Scope and Contents
Negatives: N22921-N22930, Photographic prints: P15778-P15788.
Arrangement
Arrangement
Arranged into three series. Series 1: Sidney S. Wilson, 1933; Series 2: Roswell G. Wheeler, 1915; Series 3: Unknown Photographer, 1884.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
During the winter of 1884-1885, Florence L. Wilson (1861-1920), later Mrs. E.E. Flickinger, taught at the Pima Indian Agency School in Sacaton Arizona. Her uncle, Roswell G, Wheeler, had been appointed Indian Agent by President Garfield and he hired Florence, along with an Aunt to teach at the Agency. During her time teaching, one of Florence's tasks was to assign new English names to her Akimel O'odham (Pima) students in addition to teaching them English. Florence wrote letters home to Indiana during this time which were kept by her mother Hepzibah Beulah Wilson.
Florence's younger brother, Sidney S. Wilson (1865-1950) re-discovered the letters, along with other family keepsakes, and in January 1933 traveled to the Pima Agency in Arizona with his wife Anna to see where Florence taught. Wilson sought out several of Florence's students including Ned Wood, Dick Hull and Hugh Patton. Wilson returned to Sacaton, Arizona in 1936 with a picture of his sister Florence that was to hang in the new school building. In 1942, Wilson donated Florence's letters along with photographs to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. The letters are now at Cornell University with the Huntington Free Library collection.
Administration
Author
Rachel Menyuk
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Sidney S. Wilson, 1942.
Processing Information
Processed by Rachel Menyuk, Processing Archivist, 2020.
Separated Materials
The letters from Florence Wilson to her family, initially part of the same donation, were part of the Huntington Free Library collection that were sent to Cornell University. They can now be found here: Correspondence from Pima Indian Agency, Sacaton, Arizona, #9050. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Sidney S. Wilson and family photographs from Pima Indian Agency, image #, NMAI.AC.156; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Keywords
| Keyword Terms | Keyword Types | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Akimel O'odham (Pima) | Cultural Context | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Negatives (photographic) | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Photographic prints | Genre Form | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Teachers -- 19th century | Topical | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Gila River Indian Reservation (Ariz.) | Geographic | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Wheeler, Roswell G. | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| Wilson, Florence L. | Personal Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
| United States. Office of Indian Affairs | Corporate Name | Search Smithsonian Collections | Search ArchiveGrid |
National Museum of the American Indian
4220 Silver Hill Rd
Suitland, Maryland 20746-2863
nmaiarchives@si.edu
